Are Christians Still Sinners, But Saved By Grace? Part 1 Series

NOTE: New Light Faith Ministries and Barry Johnson Ministries, founded by Rodney V. Johnson and Barry O. Johnson, respectively, are partnering to offer Bible studies for Christians who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus. This is a Bible study lesson, not a sermon. The Bible studies teach foundational truth that are designed to challenge, encourage and, most importantly, flame the fire of hunger in the Christian who wants to learn more about who they have become in Christ Jesus. The Bible studies you find on this site contains the written version of the lesson. However, these lessons also include a video and an audio file of the study, a PDF version of the lesson and a sheet for note taking. If you would like any of the additional resources for these studies, please email us at newlightfaithministries@gmail.com or bjteachingltr@gmail.com for more information or contact us at the email provided on both of our Sermon Central pages. Be blessed.

Are Christians Still Sinners, But Saved By Grace? Part 1

(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)

Introduction

“I’m a sinner saved by grace!” This is a very popular saying in the Church today, although it’s not true. You see, held within this statement are two professions of faith. The first one says “I am a sinner” while the second one says “I am saved by grace.” Scripturally, the second statement nullified the first statement so the statement as a whole is false. A more accurate statement for a Christian is, “I was a sinner who was saved by grace! Now I’m a righteous, blameless, holy child of God!”

This is the first lesson in our series dealing with the question of whether or not a person, who has accepted Christ and is saved, can continue to live the life of a sinner because they are saved by grace. It has been a topic of discussion between Barry and me for quite some time, not because we disagree about whether or not it is true, but because it seems to pop up from time to time in conversations that we have with other people. For example, recently I had breakfast with someone who began sharing with me some of the things about the relationship they were involved in. The person is single and dating. As I listened to the person, I finally asked them, “Aren’t you a Christian?” The person replied, “Yes!” So, I asked them based on the Word of God, “Why are you sleeping around then – don’t you know what the Bible says about that?” The person responded: “We are all sinners! Don’t you still sin?” At this point I attempted to explain the difference between living in sin and occasionally sinning. The person’s response is one of the reasons why we developed this series. Most Christians do not understand that they are no longer sinners, but they can choose to commit sin.

People love to quote what Paul wrote in Romans 3:23 when he said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This truth is not a justification for continuing in sin as Paul also later wrote, “(1) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (2) Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (Romans 6:1-2) Then later in this same chapter he wrote, “(11) Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. (13) And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (14) For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:11-14) Yes, we have been saved by grace, but our salvation is not a permission slip for continuing in sin which we will explain in more depth in a future lesson. Barry and I also discuss this topic from time to time ourselves because, as you can see by my conversation with my friend and former co-worker, it is a teaching that is readily accepted and believed by nearly everyone in the Church. We believe that the primary reason the “we are sinners saved by grace” teaching is so readily accepted as a universal truth in the Church is because most Christians still find themselves committing sin after they have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior without the guilt because they truly believe they are still saved even though they know they are living a life that is sinful. And there is a reason for this, which we will cover briefly in this lesson and in more depth in a future lesson.